Positioning scarf joint

[Mac McElwain]

I like to use an under-the-fingerboard scarf joint when building, but I'm having trouble positioning it right. I always get the tip of the join under the neck right at the point where the headstock angle breaks away and I really struggle to feather the join invisibly. How can I position the join further back down the neck so it's away from the break and therefore easier to feather?

Currently, I split the neck plank and reverse the grains. Then I taper the blank and accept that the headstock will have a slight taper. Then I cut the scarf to 15 degrees. and glue it Then I fight the feathering!!! Is there a smarter way?

MAC

[Andrew]

Hey Rusty. Hope you’ve been upwind of the flames down under.

If I may ask, is there a method where carbon fiber rods can be installed continuously up the neck and angled headstock? Would one have to use pre shaped pieces of CF?

[Russell Vance]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for your concern mate: we were watching the water bombers bucketing the fires from our factory front door - not so bad as there was a river and a firebreak between us, but better there is no fire at all.       

It's a question of how far you wish to go with reinforcements and whether the time and effort is worth the reward.  The images attached show the extent of how far we go into the head-stock bearing in mind that the top plate on the head-stock is a 3/32 piece of ebony which gives some additional strength to that area and also bears against the carbon fiber or titanium which is flushed to the peg-head facing. Shaping carbon fiber or titanium to go around the corner is doable but hellishly expensive and fiddly (at our level of making). 

For what its worth, nobody has managed to break a headstock or neck on our guitars and we unconditionally warranty against that.   Not that we think we are so good,  but;  if someone breaks one I'd like to see the pathology of the break and take steps to engineer it better. 

C'ya

Rusty. 

[Andrew]

Thanks for the reply. Good to know you’ve got some protection too.

Ive no doubt your necks are about as strong as they come. It’d be nice to further immobilize the headstock, but yeah definitely a questionable gain for the cost/effort.